Apple nixes partner's production of 256GB SSD for MacBook Air

Apple has asked PhotoFast, a licensed accessory partner, to discontinue production of a 256GB SSD upgrade kit for the MacBook Air laptop.

Apple has asked its business partner PhotoFast to discontinue production of a 256GB SSD upgrade kit for its MacBook Air laptop, according to several published reports .

The PhotoFast SSD kit included a 256GB flash memory module, along with a 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive for backing up the native 64GB SSD in the 11.6-in MacBook Air. Other models of the MacBook Air have Samsung SSDs with as much as 256GB of capacity.

The PhotoFast drive not only offered a big capacity boost to lower-end Air models, but it also increased throughput from the 150MB/sec speed of the MacBook Air's native drive to 250MB/sec.

PhotoFast is part of Apple's MFI Program , which makes certain vendors licensed sellers of accessories for the iPhone , iPod and iPad . PhotoFast sells several docking stations for the iPhone/iPod and iPad as well as a wireless audio transmitter for the devices to transmit sound to car audio systems.

Neither company has offered an explanation for the discontinuation of the upgrade kit.